The Elite among our Own
Quincy & Soul Reaper, The Path of Anger Kusagi Kōta, once the prodigal son of Enkō Kōta and an elite among his fellow Quincy, had been reduced to a meager wanderer who rode his motorcycle through the shady alleys and back streets of Yōsakura Town. The roar of his cycle's engine echoed down the alleyway, bouncing from tenant to tenant and drawing anger from those who dwell within these poverty-stricken slums but Kusagi cared little. Wrought with both tragedy and anger on a daily basis, fueled by the damage the damned had done to his life and people, an eerie scowl was drawn onto his face. Revving the engine, Kusagi sped off down the alley, in search of something to kill to quell his anger. Target Acquired: '' ''Scanning... Kusagi Kōta identified as mission priority. '' ''Rate of speed: 260 kph Searching for best location for execution... Found: Location: Cross Junction near ''Yōsakura outskirts. Possibilities of collateral damage: 32%'' "That will do," Jōshōtsu said in a near silent voice as the pair of ocular lenses turned off with a blink of indigo light, resuming his natural yellow iris color. He then allowed his natural senses and skills to take over as he stood up from his crouched position at the top of a flat roofed building, taking out a pair of oval shaped devices, briefly examining them before he primed them. With a swift inhale of air, he leaped off the edge of the building, letting himself free fall for a good few seconds before he used Flash Step, the sound of a hiss escaped his midst as he moved. As he appeared through a blur of motion onto a traffick junction on the outskirts of ''Yōsakura, ''Jōshōtsu stood directly in the path of the oncoming high speeding motorcyclist, briefly tossing the two oval devices on either side, one on the traffick light pole and the other onto a mail box, then a few mere seconds passed before both devices hummed and discharged a connected laser emanating between the two objects, activating the rather large explosion the combined mines would create, a good 10 meter spread radius from the point of origin of the blast itself. With a excess of spiritual energy colorized as blue mist, the laser soon disappeared from view as well as the two objects, child's play for Jōshōtsu as he then watched as the Kusagi approached within a mere 10 seconds of collision. "Come and meet your end, Quincy," he spoke in a eerily, dispassionate tone before he leaped visually backwards with the skill of a athlete, until he landed a good 20 meters away from the blast site, leaving only 5 seconds of reaction time before the explosives would go off. What will happen next for the Quincy, was entirely up to him. Kusagi watched as a figure, masked by the shadows of the night appeared at the end of the alleyway. His eyes followed the two circular objects that were thrown out by the man and reacted as best as he could. Kusagi's eyes narrowed as they disappeared instantly, sparking a thought in his brain. Turning his cycle, both Kusagi and his cycle lowered to the ground, skidding just above the asphalt alleyway. At the angle he was skidding, Kusagi slid right under the laser tripwire that stood in between Kusagi and his inevitable death. As soon as he made his way under, the Quincy dug his foot into the ground, pushing himself back up and maintaining his former speed. Coming to a stop, Kusagi eyed the figure who had made his way several feet in front of him, his hand lightly grasping the gun at his waist. "I can sense the ambient spiritual particles in the air and around us, you're going to have to devise a more elaborate magic trick if you want to pull one over on me." "You're still in range," Jōshōtsu said, producing a small 2 inch long silver tube with a trigger mechanism at the end in his left gloved hand, "human." With a click on the device, the mines detonated behind Kusagi and propelled the intense blast of both kinetic force and fire towards Kusagi from behind, while he used Flash Step, reappearing within a blur of motion unsheathing one of his swords on his left hip in a Iaido slashing stance, aiming to strike across his torso across his left shoulder within that motion. Kusagi smirked as he and his mouth propelled forward, giving a hardy thrust to the handle as he flew. Instantly, both Kusagi and his motorcycle shot up into the air and began riding into the skies above his attacker. Gripping the long metallic silver handle at his side, Kusagi pulled it out and announced the phrase '''Löwe Stolz sparking an ethereal blade of spiritual energy to sprout from the once barren hilt. Launching himself from his seat, Kusagi now floated mid-air above his attacker, armed with his broadsword and beaming a look of killing intent at him. "Goading me into a close-quarters fight, are we?" Jōshōtsu analyzed verbally aloud, not really speaking to his target but merely finding it fascinating the tools this particular Quincy used, "that blade apparently either has special properties to withstand usual soul reaper weaponry or can manipulate and absorb Spiritrons from my attacks. Though in order to test either theory..." Jōshōtsu then quickly used Flash Step, appearing to and fro from the Quincy's line of vision before appearing behind Kusagi, a red orb of energy rapidly gathered on his left palm, "Hado #31," with a rapid burst of 10 red spheres in multiple directions, all moving at high speeds, "Shakkaho!" Kusagi raised Löwe Stolz up and held it vertically in front of him, allowing each of the Kidō spells to strike the elongated blade of his broadsword. "For a Shinigami, you're quite knowledgeable on our Quincy artifacts... seeing as how you slaughtered our people so many years ago," Kusagi spat. "Simply trying to get behind me and out of my field of vision doesn't work, I can sense every spiritron in the area and distinguish it differently. You move and I can find you instantly." he went on. "High Spiritual Perception? I'd guess as much," Jōshōtsu, suddenly was covered in a aura of dark blue energy, his hair and cloathes rippled in the effect. With a sudden burst, a 360 pulse of dark energy washed everything in its path, including Kusagi, which would send him in a state of temporary paralysis while Jōshōtsu himself vanished from sight, his Spiritual Energy effectively cloaked and now in a state where it appeared he was both 'everywhere' and 'nowhere'. "Leave it to a Shinigami to use such mundane form of Witchcraft..." Kusagi said, giving a twirl to Löwe Stolz. "You're an illusionist... until you show your true self, you can't hurt me. That is the rule to your magic tricks, am I correct?" "Such a low level of understanding of what perception really is," Jōshōtsu spoke aloud as his form materialized right in front of him speeding with a oncoming slash towards chest, "makes you all the more susceptible to illusions itself, human!" Kusagi scoffed at his incoming attacker, tossing forward a pair of gintō as he did so. Manifesting in front of him was a pair of silver columns of spiritual energy that crossed as they manifested from the tubes. "Tate no Hakkō." Jōshōtsu's body seemed to shimmer then split apart as two spun around the cross, both forms of Jōshōtsu attacked at the same time, slashing at either side of him, aiming to use the simultaneous attack so he wouldn't be able to block one or the other. Throwing up Löwe Stolz to his right, Kusagi quickly grasped the Tate no Hakkō with his free hand, quickly tossing it to the left. Kusagi felt himself get pushed by both attacking forces; if this was an illusion, it had taken full control of his senses. "You've fallen right into my trap," Jōshōtsu thought with assurance. As sure as Kusagi's guess was, the forms of Jōshōtsu shimmered before shrouding everything within a blue hue of mist, with the real Jōshōtsu reappearing out of a shimmer of light, making a swift stabbing motion with his sword at shoulder holding his broadsword, silently and without retort. Kusagi's eyes widened as Jōshōtsu charged forward with his sword drawn; Kusagi had one option if he wanted to avoid this deathly attack. Dropping both Löwe Stolz and Tate no Hakkō, Kusagi quickly used the back of his now free hand to strike into the side of Jōshōtsu's blade. Slicing across his arm an hand, Kusagi had survived the blunt of the sword, but now was faced with a narrow but deep slice to the hand. "Sacrifice – Sacrifice has to be made." Kusagi said, raising up his other hand. Thrusting downward, Kusagi went for a spiritual charged punch to his target. With Jōshōtsu caught against the wounded Kusagi, the Shinigami had few options left. Jōshōtsu's eyes widened as Kusagi managed to avoid the supposed death blow and it would take to long to excess energy to create an illusion as well as retreat. Jōshōtsu saw the spiritual charged punch come towards him, instinctively raising his left forearm to block it, but felt the spiritual buffer force his body to feel the force, his body flew through the air. As his form screamed with inertia, Jōshōtsu felt himself feel the impact of a nearby curb, a loud crash and debris fired everywhere like shrapnel, ripping up the nearby traffick light and windows nearby with the power used behind it. "I underestimated...his resolve," Jōshōtsu admitted or moreover thought as he coughed, a thin line of blood came down his nose and lips as he struggled back onto his feet, his eyes stared with a glare of malice towards his prey above, "I guess I shouldn't hold back behind mere illusions now...better see what his next move is so I can counter it..." he gripped his sword tightly in his hand but stood in a stalwart upright position, ready for his opponent's counterattack. Kusagi couldn't fight through the pain of the sword anymore, quickly pushing off of Jōshōtsu and placing himself closer to the ground. Kusagi's eyes shifted towards Löwe Stolz and back at the Shinigami. "I've been showing neglect to my people's pride." Kusagi disappeared and reappeared instantly high up in the skies above, now baring a metallic cross in his bloody hand. "I'm sure you have heard of this, from those parasites that you call your comrades? The Quincy Cross that they had feared so much!" Kusagi's words were like a signal for his large bow to manifest. The bow was teeming with spiritual energy that coated Kusagi like a veil of white light, giving him an angelic appearance. Drawing the string of his bow, Kusagi shot a smile at Jōshōtsu. "I've tasted your spiritual energy and broke it down within my own energies. This arrow can sense you, wherever you may be. Even an illusion won't save you now..." Kusagi said, firing the single arrow towards Jōshōtsu. "Just because you can sense me," Jōshōtsu said briefly as the arrow was let loose, the volatile bright energy arrow demolished what was left of the corner of the street, blowing open the windows of a department store closed up there. He reappeared above him, twirling in a razor-filled wind as not one, two, or even three swords but four swords swung around in deadly inconcievable arcs from both soles of his boots and the grips of his hands, ensuring a close quarter encounter would be near consequential for the Quincy, "doesn't mean you can keep up with me!" Kusagi watched as Jōshōtsu came down from above, armed with four swords that he wielded with deadly power. "You're a smart man, trying to force me into close-combat." Kusagi said, back stepping each time Jōshōtsu came a bit closer. With a flick of his wrist, Kusagi tossed up several silver capsules which exploded with spiritual energy before both him and his attacker. Kästchen: a Gintō technique capable of erecting a barrier between him and his foes. "Did it not occur to you that I would have invented a method to avoid close combat as best as I could?" he chimed as his feet touched the ground. Drawing the string on his bow, Kusagi awaited for Jōshōtsu to break through the barrier and fall right into the path of the arrow. Jōshōtsu halted his attack when it met the barrier, his swords cracked its surface but did not shatter as his keen eye caught Kusagi on the otherside. "Clever tactic," he then drew out a blue hue along his right hand's sword while striking simultaneously on the shield, shattering it as well as propelling himself to vault above the Quincy, "for a human. Strike relentlessly," as soon as his sword emanated an aura of blue energy before returning to its original appearance, Jōshōtsu slashed at Kusagi once as he spoke, "Supurittā!" His cut in the air emanated a energized arc in the air with high cutting power involved within its construct. However, what happened after it was let loose is that the arc split off into a cross, then a eight-sided star, with the span of 5 meters as it screamed towards the Quincy, intending on cutting him and his machine to pieces. Kusagi raised a brow at the incoming attack, he could tell it was a powerful one from the sheer spiritual energy that came from it and the wielder. Kusagi did not hesitate another second, releasing the bow and letting it fly directly towards the oncoming attack. It would not stop it, but it would surely hold it back long enough for Kusagi to prepare another arrow. Plucking on the string, Kusagi simultaneously fired two more arrows, these arrows aimed at the arrow he originally had fired. His only way to survive the Shinigami's attack was to counteract it with enough force to disassemble the technique all together. The arrows struck the attack, one by one, creating a large showcase of spiritual energy and debris from the surrounding area. The sound of rock crumbling down from the houses and the long fire escape crashing into the ground echoed through the air as a plume of smoke erupted from the collision, separating Kusagi and Jōshōtsu. This War is Ours! Jōshōtsu landed with a metalic thud, the pommels of two of his swords propped him up on a elevated perch as he held both his Zanpakuto and his other sword, staring out into the dark plume that had been created by the two forces that collided, "The true power of a Quincy is the repetitive of their spirit arrows. Firing them one after another, whether fast or more timely, it allows them to continuously lay out attacks upon their enemies until they are dead or the archer is," he analyzed verbally, not really talking to anyone at the time but knew that Kusagi would hear him over the vague hiss mist that the fog of war created. If I am going to beat him, I'm going to have to overwhelm him with both speed and tenacious attacks. The only problem I'll have with him is not his rate of fire, but his use of Quincy spells and other technology he might have on hand. He must still have some form of melee combat at hand if I know his cautious and calculative nature from the reports, so I'll assume even if I disarm his bow, he'll revert back to his spirit-absorbing weapons, Jōshōtsu mentally layed out his strategy, knowing that Kusagi would be doing the same, finding that would be one of the few things that would help him win this battle. Kusagi sneered, he was disgusted that the Shinigami would hide behind the smoke cloud like a coward. The thought that his people were killed by beings like him left a terrible taste in Kusagi's mouth. Drawing a from the pack at his rear, Kusagi propped it up in his bow and pulled back on the string. "Let's add some power to this shot." Kusagi said, firing the replacement arrow at Jōshōtsu. Here it comes! Jōshōtsu readied his swords on either side, his feet shuffled along the pommels of his other two swords, readying himself as he saw a hue of blue running through the cloud of smoke. What came out on the other side, caused him to open his eyes wide, leaping upwards and totally avoiding the new-shaped projectile, something that he's seen before. "Seele Schneider?! I haven't seen any living Quincy use that relic in but archives," Jōshōtsu spoke aloud as he saw the powered sword-shaped arrow slam through a stop sign and penetrate the building behind him, blowing out a significant part of the aging infrastructure, causing the Quincy to narrow his eyes, "he poured his own Spiritual Energy, no, poured Spiritual Energy itself into the arrow before launching it. He must've boosted the power of his Quincy arrows individually." As he landed a good distance to the left of where the arrow was shot through, gathered pulsating tendrils of his own Spiritual Power within his Zanpakuto, saying lowly deadly killing intent his Spiritual Pressure flowing across the air and distorting it with a static feel, making perception all the more difficult as he would counterattack, "My turn, Quincy!" He then leapt, skidding across the air with a thin amount of spiritual planes underneath the edge of his swords, maintaining his elevated position as he let loose one, two, five slashes in the air into the smog. The first two were cross-shaped, being slightly faster than the 8-edged star slash attack he let loose before, the next three however, were lightning fast single-sided arcs, being the fastest and incredibly hard to dodge as they were launched in synchronization with the other slashes. He aimed to confuse the Quincy, or question the abilities of his Zanpakuto as he moved towards the open air of the cloud of smoke, calculating the Quincy would be busy enough with the barrage of attacks before he readied to unleash his next move on his opponent. Considering his position and the incoming onslaught of attacks that came at Kusagi, he had very few options. Tossing forward several Gintō tubes, the flares of white spiritual energy quickly manifested as a thick shield in front of Kusagi. There was no way he could possibly dodge the attack, but he sure as hell could cushion some of the damage. One by one, the attacks struck against the barrier, holding its own for only a short time. Shattering to pieces like glass, Kusagi was quickly absorbed into the spiritual explosion that was the Shinigami's attack. His clothes were torn and charred in some areas and blood dripped from his forehead. Kusagi, now pressed up against the wall that gave him some defense from the push back of the attack, huffed as his spiritual bow dissipated from his grip. "Not bad," Kusagi said as he wiped the blood from his forehead. He could account for his wounds, through the pain that shot through his body alone. His ankle was sprained from trying to withstand the attack and one of his ribs were badly bruised, maybe even broken. The head wound would was rough, but Kusagi could bare the pain. Raising a Seele Schneider from his pouch, Kusagi gave it a spin before pointing it at the Shinigami. "But you'll have to do better if you want to kill me, Shinigami scum." Kusagi leaped forward and with a swift thrust, felt the force of his Seele Schneider clash with the blade of the Shinigami. "You humans never cease to become distasteful in my mind," Jōshōtsu said in a cool, dispassionate manner, promptly moving his left sword over his Zanpakuto to protect against Seele Schneider's spiritron absorbtion properties, "you never learn anything past your own grudges and what you see beyond your path of anger. Its only natural for a lowly human to hold onto anger to keep them strong when they have no goal beyond the horizon of time," with that said, he swung his right foot sword in a diagonal arc towards Kusagi's leg and waist, followed by another from his left foot. Kusagi felt as each blade dug into his sides, the pain was unbearable. A painful scream escaped Kusagi's lips followed by the sound of blood splattering the pavement below. The blades had dug fairly deep into Kusagi's side, but not enough for him to succumb to the cold embrace that is death. "Shinigami... It's funny, I don't even know your name," Kusagi began. The Quincy leaned in closer to Jōshōtsu and smirked. "Wherever you mongrels go after you die, your name won't mean anything." Kusagi said letting go of his Seele Schneider and letting his body go limp to the floor below. Mustering his strength and a thrust of his hand, Kusagi called "Quincy Technique, Seitennohekireki!" A spark of energy engulfed the Seele Schneider next to Jōshōtsu, the Löwe Stolz and the Seele Schneider that was embedded into the stop sigh. Exploding upward, three columns of spiritual energy engulfed the area, slowly combing into a single column of spiritual energy. The building to Kusagi's right shattered before him, sending bits of rock and debris flying down towards him. Tossing up a Gintō tube, a barrier erected before Kusagi, shielding him as best as it could. "You die a nameless Shinigami." Jōshōtsu's eyes widened as he saw the three terrifyingly large columns of raw Spiritual Energy form, blasting away parts of the neighbourhood's buildings with ease as well as tearing through the asphalt and concrete ground below, showing a true testament of power behind it. I should've known! He already gathered enough energy from beforehand while gathering it in the air from my Illusions, allowing him to use it to a maximum potential. There's to easy way of evading things closing in on all sides, Jōshōtsu thought quickly as he looked on all sides as the three towering collosal columns of spirit energy drew closer, the deafening roar and howl of the force behind it caused him to sweat coldly as he felt a few beads trickle down his brow. Deftly flipping his swords back into their sheathes, he raised his Zanpakuto parallel to his chest, pointing the blade to his left, speaking lowly, "Bankai," with a brief glow of violet spiritual energy surrounding him, a magnanimous violet column of spiritual power and energy erupted before the three columns could meet in the center. Dual shaped energies of violet horns erupted at the top where the columns would've collided before crackling down. Within that blast of power, a violent ripping and screaming sound was heard within...and hundreds of blue arcs that split over and over, rendering the columns asunder into thousands of dissipating lights, the arcs striking around the neighbourhood for a good city block, causing multiple explosions and clouds of debris to rain everywhere. "Sekai Supurittā," he finished saying, now bearing a clad assortment of black medieval knight armor, with a pair of horns over a menacing helm, and a large claymore aset within his gaunt-covered right hand, his eyes aglow with violet light of killing intent, "I haven't had the displeasure of having to use my Bankai for nearly a hundred years. You human," Jōshōtsu looked down towards Kusagi, alight in a aura of violet energy as he held his sword in his enemy's direction, "have successfully angered me!" Elite Warriors, No one's equal Kusagi's eyes widened as his opponent entered their Bankai; he could feel the dense spiritual energy swarm over him like a strong wind. "I've never witnessed a Shinigami's Bankai, until this day..." Kusagi said to Jōshōtsu. Kusagi recollected himself and re-formed his bow at his hands. "I'm flattered you would use it against a lowly Quincy such as myself," Kusagi mocked. "Let's see if I can keep up..." Kusagi said, drawing the string back and firing an arrow at the Shinigami. Jōshōtsu sneered at Kusagi, "I will utterly destroy you, human," he raised the guard of his Zanpakuto, easily deflecting the arrow as it sparked and dissipated into many particles in the air as he growled, "if it means I have to utterly destroy you with all of my power to make you understand how lowly you creatures really are!" Jōshōtsu then used Flash Step, moving at an incredibly higher pace than what he did beforehand, exhaling a scream in his wake of blurring out of view. When he reappeared, Jōshōtsu slashed towards Kusagi within arm's length with his sword arm at a horizontal arc, releasing half a dozen splitting cutting arcs, the blue energy that would crash into the ground would create a resounding explosion and flash of blue neon light for a good 10 meters. Kusagi quickly leaped back, his eyes aglow with spiritual energy. "Amaterasu," he said. Disappearing from sight, the horizontal arcs of energy collided together and created a large cloud of smoke and spiritual energy. Kusagi, instead of taking advantage of the smoke and hiding himself, quickly dotted around Jōshōtsu like a wild gnat, leaving a trace of spiritual energy at each location. Finally setting foot atop a building in the distance, Kusagi smirked as he made a gesture with his free hand, setting off the true power of the attack. Each spiritual "node" that Kusagi had placed around his opponent went off one by one. "You call me the lowly creature Shinigami, but you are the one so haphazardly whipping around your blades and acting like a feral beast." Kusagi mocked. Jōshōtsu felt the emissions of Spiritual energy as more of a ploy than actual clones that Soul Reapers would create. As they began to detonate, he took quick time to backpedal away, the bright flashes of the explosions that were created around the crater looked almost like mines to Jōshōtsu's eyes. As he heard Kusagi's voice, he merely gazed towards the Quincy with disgust, raising his left hand towards Kusagi, uttering lowly, "Hado # 33, Sokatsui!" With a roar, a mighty wide arc of blue energy charged towards the building top where Kusagi resided and looked down from, intending to kill him in the mighty blue lit explosion that followed half the top of the building as the energy bulldozed over with incredible force. Kusagi did not hesitate and quickly pulled back on the string of his bow. Releasing his grip, three azure colored arrows shot forward and collided with the Kidō, creating another plume of smoke. No matter what Jōshōtsu tried, Kusagi had a counter and was fully understanding that creating traps and diversions was the best way to throw off a Shinigami like him. Kusagi leaped through the plume of smoke, tearing out the other end, placing him opposite of Jōshōtsu. As he charged through the smoke, Kusagi had already prepared another arrow, but this one was different. A Seele Schneider rested in the bow and quickly shot forward as Kusagi let go. A Seele Schneider was not like the run of the mill arrows, it was a powerful spiritually charged blade with outstanding properties. Jōshōtsu turned around, using Flash Step to disappear to the side, using his immense speed not just dodge the specialized arrow... SNATCH! ...but catch it, as Jōshōtsu held the hilt of the Seele Schneider's hilt within his left gaunt-covered hand with ease, as he glared at Kusagi with untold wrath and anger. "You'd dare to attempt using these meager artifacts, Quincy?!" With a violent twitch running through his forearm, he snapped the arrow's "hilt" into pieces, the blade crackled and whizzed out before dissipating entirely as it felt to the ground useless. "You're trying my patience," Jōshōtsu spoke, shimmering out of view via Flash Step, reappearing on Kusagi's rear right, slashing while releasing a splitting arc towards him, "you," he did the same as he disappeared and reappeared to his foward right, releasing another slash, "little," finally finishing it by shimmering above him, releasing one more arc before dozens of arcs that dove down at the landscape, reducing a total of 40 square meters to rubble and dust, reducing some of the nearby buildings from the concussive shockwaves created by its destructive properties, "HUMAN!"